Synod of Bishops opens with Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica
October 06, 2014
The Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family opened in Rome on October 5 with a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Preaching on the Sunday Mass readings, Pope Francis said that “today the prophet Isaiah and the Gospel employ the image of the Lord’s vineyard. The Lord’s vineyard is his ‘dream,’ the plan which he nurtures with all his love, like a farmer who cares for his vineyard. Vines are plants which need much care!”
“God’s ‘dream’ is his people,” he continued. “He planted it and nurtured it with patient and faithful love, so that it can become a holy people, a people which brings forth abundant fruits of justice.”
He continued:
The temptation to greed is ever present. We encounter it also in the great prophecy of Ezekiel on the shepherds (cf. ch. 34), which Saint Augustine commented upon in one his celebrated sermons which we have just reread in the Liturgy of the Hours. Greed for money and power. And to satisfy this greed, evil pastors lay intolerable burdens on the shoulders of others, which they themselves do not lift a finger to move (cf. Mt 23:4).
We too, in the Synod of Bishops, are called to work for the Lord’s vineyard. Synod Assemblies are not meant to discuss beautiful and clever ideas, or to see who is more intelligent. They are meant to better nurture and tend the Lord’s vineyard, to help realize his dream, his loving plan for his people. In this case the Lord is asking us to care for the family, which has been from the beginning an integral part of his loving plan for humanity.
We are all sinners and can also be tempted to "take over" the vineyard, because of that greed which is always present in us human beings. God’s dream always clashes with the hypocrisy of some of his servants. We can "thwart" God’s dream if we fail to let ourselves be guided by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit gives us that wisdom which surpasses knowledge, and enables us to work generously with authentic freedom and humble creativity.
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Posted by: bernie4871 -
Oct. 06, 2014 5:01 PM ET USA
Who are these hypocritical servants? Apparently they must be the people who say someone is still married to the person they entered a Sacramental agreement with but to whom they no longer feel "love"? So much of this phony hand-wringing is caused by a deficient understanding of the word love. Probably most marriages even today are arranged. Are they now invalid? The "Pauline Privilege" has a very limited context. Since when did romantic love become the ruler of marriage?
